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Push to strip pensions of convicted pols

Two city councilmen are hoping to close legal loopholes that allow public employees convicted of crimes to collect pensions - even if they're behind bars.

"If a public official is convicted of taking a bribe in the course of his public duties ... for that person to continue to get paid by taxpayer dollars is a real affront," City Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) said.

Yassky and Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) are expected to announce a resolution today urging state lawmakers to change the pension laws.

It was a string of scandals involving public officials - including former Judge Victor Barron and former Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis - that prompted the push for new rules, Yassky said.

Under current law, Barron, who pleaded guilty in August to shaking down a lawyer trying a case in his courtroom, will collect his $97,000-a-year pension as he serves a three-to-nine-year prison term.

Davis pleaded guilty in January to taking money to steer a $1 million construction project to a contractor, but she'll still bank a pension Yassky said was about $47,000 a year.

The state Retirement and Social Security Law can only be changed by the Legislature, whose members are also eligible for pensions.

Today's resolution will request that either state legislators rewrite the law or give New York City the necessary permission to change the rules governing its pension system.

It may prove an uphill fight. Yassky conceded that he and Miller have yet to find a state lawmaker willing to sponsor the required legislation.

Aides to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer) could not be reached.

But some legislative observers remain skeptical of the odds of pension reform success. "This is never going to happen," said one source.


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